Boston's large Irish community will be cheering two players from the homeland when the opening foursomes are played in the 33rd Ryder Cup at the Country Club this morning. Padraig Harrington and Darren Clarke have both been chosen for the first series of matches in Europe's defence of the trophy.
The players are from either side of the Border, Harrington (28) from Rathfarnham, Dublin, and Clarke (31) from Dungannon, Co Tyrone. Clarke was a member of the side which beat the US at Valderrama, Spain, two years ago.
Two Irish men have not appeared on the opening morning since 1973 when Christy O'Connor snr and Eddie Polland played at Muirfield, Scotland.
The Country Club is only two miles from the satellite town of Brighton which is home to an estimated 30,000 native Irish.
Harrington's inclusion came at the expense of reigning US Masters champion Jose-Maria Olaz abal, who drove the ball poorly in practice and could not be risked in the alternate-shot format. "Pad raig has played extremely well to get into the team and extremely well in practice," said European captain, Mark James, explaining his decision to pair him with Miguel-Angel Jimenez of Spain.
Arguably the most exciting match of the morning will be at No 2, where Spain's Sergio Garcia and Sweden's Jesper Parnevik play the American pairing of world No 1, Tiger Woods, and the former British Open champion Tom Lehman. The match comes little more than a month since 19-year-old Garcia fought a thrilling duel with Woods at Medinah, where the American went on to capture the USPGA Championship.
"It is the match the people want to see and it's got the other players really excited," said US captain Ben Crenshaw.
Large groups of Irish have converged on Boston since the beginning of the week to attend this biennial showpiece.It is estimated this weekend's activities will generate to $63 million in revenue.